ms.sss

I tried a series of micro needling on my neck…didnt notice a difference. I next tried botox in that area and there was a subtle improvement. Too subtle for the cost though…not convinced its worth it.

Yep, i was chubby footed as well apparently, lol. I went from a 7.5-8 to a 6. further, i shrunk about 3/4 of an inch in height…guess i had chubby soles too!

1st meal if the day! 2 soft boiled eggs and 1.5 peices of bacon (would have been 2, but someone pinched a piece from my bowl) 190 calories…ate it all.

Def an NSV. I noticed this too as I lost weight! Looking at old pictures, my trapezoid area shrunk (the part between the side base of your neck and the top of your shoulder). And as it did, a little dip formed there that was a perfect little cubby to hold my purse strap in place! Lol. So yeah, add it to your NSV list, ha! ❤️

And when you are done, you can make a new collage and update it every year, lol Here’s mine. I like to look at it every once in a while (much, much more frequently before though, ha!) Looking at it is like giving myself a pat on the head and saying “yay, me!”

Taking pictures of yourself as u shrink helps! Put your most recent pic beside your oldest one…its hard to argue with photographic evidence. P.S. If you can, wear the same clothes in each pic…but this may get challenging as you get smaller and smaller, lol. If so, try to at least wear the same colours (i wish i did, ha) makes for a lovely collage later.

For me its pork, bread (“soft” fluffy bread in particular) and avocados. Im almost 4 yrs post op.

The Question: “When did you stop buying new clothes?” My Answer: Never! 😂 With that said though, “New Clothes” purchases started its significant rise around 4 months (when i shrunk out of my horde of “skinny clothes” i kept over the years); peaked at about 1 year (omg i was a shopaholic around that time), and levelled off since then (i’ll be 4 yrs post in October). If resources allow, i say there ain’t nothing wrong at all with getting some cute outfits that fit PROPERLY….looking good generally makes you FEEL good, which does wonders for your confidence, which makes all the difference with dealing with life in general (including weight loss/maintenance!) Good Luck! ❤️

Other than being super tired the first couple weeks, and feeling like i did 100 situps (I didn’t take any pain meds after the first day), my recovery was also uneventful. No nausea, no gas pain, no throwing up. Granted, I barely ate those first couple weeks, but I didn’t really want to anyway (which probably explains why i was so tired). Am pleased with my results P.S. im almost 4 years out now, reached goal at 7 months, and been maintaining below that goal to this day.

Finally went diving!! (First time since surgery!) Pleased to report that: 1) I went down from an XL BCD to an XXS! 2) Went from 18-20 lbs of required weights to 6! (8lbs if i wore a wetsuit) 3) Speaking of wetsuits…i used to wear a Men’s XL, and now a woman’s size 2 (though if they had a size 1, it probably would’ve been better) I was NOT all sweaty and tired lugging all my gear around on land, got in and out of the boat with little to no effort, AND was looked cute in pictures lol. WIN!

Salad! 202 cals for the container. Shared it with The Kid, estimating i ate a little more than half.

*raises hand* My guess its partly related to increased energy and confidence levels. Both of which i have plenty more of since surgery, lol

Taboo schma-boo. Lol. I am pro-botox and fillers (the natural looking kind, not the exaggerated kind!) Makes a world of difference, and if its done right, people will just say you have nice skin, ha! BUT…it does get expensive. It doesn’t last forever so there is regular/ongoing maintenance, and it adds up. I’ve likely spent more at my medi-spa than the cost of a facelift. Sigh.

A: all of the above, 😂 i’ll also add: chest pressure, lethargy, racing heart, acid indigestion, extreme fullness sensations. for me, different situations and foods cause different symptoms. I’ve long learned which ones cause which. Trial and error will help you learn how to deal with YOUR own intolerances. Pro Tip: introduce new things a little at a time so you can pinpoint what exactly agrees/disagrees with you. Also, if at first you don’t succeed, try again (if u want to, that is): what bothers you today may not bother you tomorrow. Good Luck! ❤️

Had some corn i need to use up, so grilled up a few 1/2 cobs and made a raw corn salsa with other random item in the fridge. Had one of the 1/2 cobs preceded with an espresso martini (not shown). 217 calories for both. Heres a pic of the salsa and ingredient list…I didn’t have any yet…i’ll stick some on a salad later. The yield was about 2.5-3 cups and comes up to 499 cals is someone were to eat the whole bowl.

Happy Birthday!! 🎉🥳🎁🎂😘

My surgeon did not exactly set a “goal”, but before surgery he only said that based on my height/weight/age, i would highly likely get down to 175 within a year (translate to a 60lbs loss as I started at 235), and that anything beyond that was “bonus”. Ended up losing those “expected” 60 lbs before my 3 month mark, and racked up a few more “bonus lbs loss” after that. At my one year mark i was maintaining a 120 lbs loss +\- a couple lbs (and still am today) I saw my surgeon and nutritionist and nurse for many follow up visits the first 3 years and they didn’t bring up any talk about my target weights at all. My surgeon focused on recovery and possible medical issues (i had none); and my NUT was more concerned about how much i was eating (not enough in her opinion, but let me be mostly because my labs always came back satisfactorily).

I already knew while making this salad that I wasn’t going to finish it, so i started with the croutons cuz I figured they would get all soggy if kept them for leftovers. Which was sort of a mistake cuz I ended up getting full from them and didn’t get to eat very much of the other yummy salad components, duh. The whole bowl is a whopping 739 calories (im looking at you, cashews, blue cheese & croutons!!) I’ll end up eating it all by EOD, hopefully…

I set myself an arbitrary goal of 120 lbs, which was right in the middle of the “healthy bmi body weight range” for my height (5’2”). I was 235 lbs at the start of my 2-wk pre-op diet. But by the time i got to 127, i decided to call it cuz i felt i was getting a little too thin for my liking, and started the process of upping calories to find my maintenance level. I ended up losing more weight anyway over the following 5-6 months and eventually settled around 115lbs +\- a couple pounds (but did get as low as 109 at one point). Surgery was almost 4 years ago and this morning i weighed in at 119.5 Whats interesting to note however, is that while I weigh less now than I did when I stopped with weight loss efforts, i don’t look as skeletal as I did back then….which is a roundabout way of saying the number on the scale is just a guide, and can change based on your body composition; perhaps go with how you feel/feel u look? If you feel great and are satisfied with what you see, then GOAL ACHIEVED! Good Luck! ❤️

Exactly. I classified a stall a STALL if i didn’t lose (nor gain) any weight AND did not lose any inches for 2 consecutive weeks. Based on that definition, I had no stalls. Like another poster mentioned above, i weighed daily, and if i zoom out on that data on a graph, it was pretty much a steady downhill slope. Zooming in would show alot more little peaks and valleys. I’d screenshot and show u, but my MFP mobile app doesn’t let me set custom dates, lol)

While tracking certainly helps and appeals to those of this mindset, there is another side-benefit to tracking: data collection and discovery of trends. I am one of those regular food trackers and daily body weighers and all-around spreadsheet lover (almost 4 years now and still going). By looking over the historical data i can easily figure out what foods/days/activities (or lack thereof) /macro combinations/eating schedules/etc work for or against whatever state i am looking to be in. You can see on your screen that these many calories don’t make a diff to your weight loss rate, or that those many carbs leads to stalls or swooshes. Or that these amounts of sugar make you eat less the next day. So much info! Lol I realize this may seem like a lot of effort to some, but (1) i like doing it, and (2) honestly takes less of my actual time than i spend on this forum, lol. I get that seeing black and white numbers may scare you cuz u are “getting to close” for comfort to your already accepted max goals, but maybe its better to be aware of facts than to live in angst of the unknown? Kinda like when we (or at least *i*) would not get on the scale in my pre-op days cuz I didn’t want to freak out over the number i would inevitably see. Then next thing u know, oopsies i gained 25 lbs. But yes, i get it, easier said than done. Hopefully your continued work with your new therapist will help you trust yourself and your abilities to peacefully face whatever comes your way, regardless if they meet your expectations or not. Goof Luck! ❤️

Im not sure the ones who don’t broadcast are necessarily “embarrassed” (though some may be, as i cant presume to speak for all). Embarrassment implies shame, which is not the same as being private. Tell/don’t tell. To each their own. ❤️

K, so i think about food all the time, both before, during, and still now after surgery. But I “behaved” differently throughout those stages too. The focus before was to eat it, and as much as I could. Now the focus is everything else about it. I don’t *think* i suffer any angst around this though, so that is a good thing. I am just fascinated about everything that has to do with food. Not sure if this is good for me or not, but i’ve long since learned to just go with it. I may or not be a minority in this but i do really enjoy eating (or more accurately, tasting) lots of different things. I don’t see food as fuel like the many other successful weight-losers who employ this method. I prefer to enjoy eating what i do eat since I have so little real estate to work with. Now, I can’t say if this will continue to work for me in the future…but it works for me now, so i’m just gonna go with it until it doesn’t…and will re-evaluate if/when it does (saves me alot of angst). Now, i sort of digressed there for a little bit, but i actually wanted to respond to OP: while you have navigated the weight loss road (successfully!) for two years (congratulations!), i get the sense that you are still in either weight-loss mode or gearing-up-for-maintenance mode? If the former, you’ve been at it for a while and it would seem only natural to be experiencing some sort of burn-out or fatigue. You’re tired, things didn’t turn out with what you half-expected. Despite this though, i applaud your attitude and recognition of your achievements. If the latter, i’ve read enough on here that the transition from wl-mode to maintenance is not easy. Its not the diet changes that are as difficult as the mental mind bending that is required to not only change a lifestyle you’ve grown accustomed to, but also to the reflection you see in the mirror…and whether you like what you see. Alot of folks had some serious energy/strength depletion near the end (myself included…i too struggled to open those effing pickle jars). Its cliché, but the only thing i can add to all the fab posts above is Patience (though I think you already know this). Do what you need to do to get through the day (talk, exercise, vent, busy-ness, therapy, sleep, medication, etc.) It won’t always be this way, and even if it is, you may find a way to accept it regardless. You’ve done fabulously, and even if you don’t sound so terribly thrilled about it (who says we have to be thrilled anyway?!), you are dealing just as fabulously. ❤️ P.S. sorry this was so long.

Who says you have to tell anyone? Its really up to you and your comfort level. I told 5 people: Mr., the Kid, BFF, mom and sister. All of whom I know wouldn’t say anything to anyone else if i asked them not to. That was almost 4 years ago. During weight loss phase, everyone and their mothers would ask or comment about my changing appearance. i simply said i was on a diet and changed the subject to be about them. That pretty much did the trick. No one asks/says anything to me anymore. My size just old news now. Tell who you want to tell, it’s not anyone else’s business but yours. Good luck! ❤️

Leftovers for brunch. fried chicken w/gravy and cole slaw. 359 calories ate it all…all the gravy too!